Tag Archives: Dealing with different personalities in meetings

“To get something done a meeting should consist of no more than three people, two of whom are absent” – Robert Copeland

“A meeting is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours” – Milton Berle

Meetings are undeniably a central part of professional life. At best, they provide a productive exchange of ideas and help build /strengthen relationships. At worst, as highlighted by the two quotes above, they waste valuable time with no tangible value-added.

Why do meetings sometimes have a ‘bad name’ in many organisations?

Well, as I’m sure your experience will tell you, there is no single or simple answer to this. Effective meetings need good organisation (clear purpose, agenda), an effective chair or facilitator (time management, balanced contributions) and clear outcomes (minutes with action points, responsibilities and deadlines) to name a few.

Here, however, I’m going to focus on one of the key causal factors for ‘difficulties’ in the meeting room: different personality types.

As meetings are so interlinked with an organisation’s efficiency, it’s unsurprising that a huge quantity of research has been carried out on meeting psychology. One important area of this covers the distinct personality types recognisable in meetings and their typical behavioural characteristics.

Having a better insight into each ‘type’ will help you better interact with them – whether you’re participating, facilitating or chairing – so raising the effectiveness of your meetings. Continue reading →